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A hilly sanctuary of over 70 sq km on the Eastern Ghats near Visakhapatnam, protecting the rare dry evergreen forest type found only in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area located near Visakhapatnam city in Andhra Pradesh, spread across the rolling hills of the Eastern Ghats and covering more than 70 square kilometres. It takes its name from a local hillock called Kambalakonda. The terrain is hilly with steep slopes, and its most significant ecological feature is its dry evergreen forest — a highly threatened and unusual forest type found in India only in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Its flora is broadly representative of the Eastern Ghats.
Type: PhenomenonLocation — near Visakhapatnam city, Andhra Pradesh, on the Eastern Ghats.
Area — more than 70 square kilometres.
Name — derived from the local hillock Kambalakonda.
Topography — hilly terrain with steep slopes.
Vegetation — dry evergreen forest, a highly threatened forest type occurring in India only in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Flora — several species are representative of the Eastern Ghats.
Urban proximity — the sanctuary lies close to a major city, which shapes both its conservation value and the pressures on it.
Frequency: Protected areas and Indian forest types appear regularly in UPSC Prelims environment questions and in SSC general awareness.
The name sounds contradictory, because evergreen forests are usually associated with high rainfall. Dry evergreen forest occurs where rainfall is moderate and strongly seasonal, but trees retain their leaves year-round rather than shedding them in the dry season as deciduous species do. The result is a short, dense, closed-canopy forest of hardy broadleaved species adapted to long dry spells. It is one of India's rarest forest types, surviving in fragments along parts of the eastern coastal belt in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and because those fragments sit on flat or gently sloping land near the coast they have been heavily cleared for agriculture and settlement — which is why the type is described as highly threatened.
Deciduous trees behave like people shedding a coat in summer to save energy. Dry evergreen species keep the coat on all year and manage the heat differently — a rarer strategy, and one that works only in particular conditions.
Kambalakonda is a good illustration of the peri-urban protected area — a sanctuary that survives on the edge of a growing city. That position gives it real value: it is a green lung for Visakhapatnam, it protects the catchment of local water sources, and it conserves a forest type that has largely disappeared elsewhere. It also exposes it to pressures that remote sanctuaries do not face, including encroachment, construction on the fringes and interference with the natural streams that drain the hills. The public interest litigation before the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking protection of the sanctuary alongside the Mudasarlova drinking water reservoir and the surrounding natural water streams captures precisely that link — the argument is that the sanctuary's hills, the streams draining them and the city's drinking water supply form a single system that cannot be protected in parts.
Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary — near Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, on the Eastern Ghats.
Area more than 70 square kilometres; named after the Kambalakonda hillock.
Hilly terrain with steep slopes.
Dry evergreen forest — found in India only in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and highly threatened.
Flora representative of the Eastern Ghats.
Subject of a PIL in the Andhra Pradesh High Court linking the sanctuary, the Mudasarlova reservoir and local streams.
Near Visakhapatnam city in Andhra Pradesh, spread across the rolling hills of the Eastern Ghats and covering more than 70 square kilometres.
It hosts dry evergreen forest, a highly threatened forest type that in India occurs only in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
It is named after Kambalakonda, a local hillock within the area.
A public interest litigation before the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeks protection of the sanctuary together with the Mudasarlova drinking water reservoir and the surrounding natural water streams, on the argument that they form a single connected system.